Leaving Earth (ME1 Earthborn Prequel)
by PandaPez
Summary: A short one-shot about paragon FemShep leaving Earth to join the Alliance.


He found her staring up at the dark, smog filled sky.

Far below, the city convulsed with people despite the hour. They went about their lives under the synthetic lights that never dimmed and sped through the night in shuttles that never stopped. The noises and neon lights were somewhat faded this high up, however; they were still there, of course. You could never really completely escape them. _But up here, you can at least ignore them. Or try to, anyway, _she'd told him once, staring up in the same familiar pose as now. Her hands were clasped together, hovering out over the balcony's edge as her forearms rested gently on the derelict metal railing. The shifting glow carried up from the city beneath outlined her form, the colors changing and melding by the moment, and was just bright enough for him to see her by.

And to see the black and grey uniform she now wore.

"So, you finally did it." he said, keeping his voice light as he went out to stand beside her. He leaned sideways against the railing, taking her in. The short-sleeved shirt fit her snugly, accentuating the lean muscles on her tan arms.

"Yeah." she replied, turning to him, one side of her lips curled upwards. "I did." The words were proud, yet she hesitated slightly as she said them.

He shook his head, mimicking her familiar grin. "Officer Shepard, Alliance Marine."

She let out a small chuckle. "Private, actually. New meat and all."

"Same difference." He said with a shrug, then shook his head slightly. "Still can't believe you actually went through with it. You just cost me twenty credits. "

"You should know better than to bet against me by now." Shepard chided. "S'pecially with credits you don't have."

"Ooo, low blow."

"You know, the Alliance pays pretty well." Her voice was conversational, as if remarking about the weather. He narrowed his eyes slightly and, although it was far too dark for her to have seen his reaction, she added, "Just saying."

He gave her a quick laugh and then turned, sweeping an arm wide towards the rusted and cracked skyscrapers that crowded their own. "What, and leave and all this behind?"

"Yes." She replied, the casual tone gone. He glanced back at her; She'd followed his example and was staring out across the city, watching it with eyes that flicked constantly. _Always trying to see everything at once._ Just another way their kind of life had marked them, branded them. He knew many other kids who'd developed the same habit, had been forced to if they'd wanted to live past the end of the week. And yet, it wasn't the same when Shepard did it.

Few things ever were.

He sighed and mirrored her pose. "I'm not you, Shep. I wouldn't last a week in the Alliance. Some thick-necked jar head sergeant telling me I'm uglier than a turian's front side, running around on some backwards colony playing guard duty… it just doesn't do it for me."

"There's more to it than that." She insisted, looking back up at the empty sky. Sometimes, on the really clear nights, you could maybe spot a dozen or two of the brighter stars through all the pollution. But this time of year was the middle of tourist season, and the surpluses of lights below alone were enough to block the distant stars out, smog or no smog. But damned it if he didn't see something shine back in Shepard's eyes as she studied the black expanse above them. "The future of humanity's out there."

_You really believe that, don't you? _"So sign up for some backwards colony. Or better yet, take the next ship out to Omega. From the vids I've seen you'd never know you left Earth. Aside from all the aliens anyway."

"I'm serious. Come with me."

He looked down at the darting shuttles and the small, pinpricks that wandered slowly beneath them. "And do what? Become an upstanding citizen? Save the galaxy from some big, unknown evil just bidding it's time out in dark space?" he asked, shaking his head slightly. "That's your dream, Shepard. Not mine."

"That's not-" she began, but he raised a hand in resignation, cutting her off.

"Fine, let's pretend you don't have some suicidal hero complex for a second. Be honest, Shep. It doesn't take a salarian to know you've never been satisfied with this sort of life; that's where we're different. The Tenth Street Reds aren't much, but at least they bring in the credits. That's enough for me. Maybe I'll want more someday, maybe I'll end up in a gutter before breakfast. Who knows?" He turned to her and waited for her to look at him before continuing, "But you, you're different. We both know it, so don't even try." He added as she opened her mouth to argue, cutting her off before she began. "So if you think you've got some great destiny out there with the spacejockeys, then go. But I'm staying here. This place might be hell, but at least it's home."

"You're better than this." she argued, but stopped when she heard his frustrated sigh. In many ways, it was a miracle she'd survived this long, as stupid as she was. Any streetrat worth his credits could tell you that people looked out for themselves first, that out here the only way to live was to realize that nobody would help you if it didn't help them; that at the best of times, humanity was only a pretty ideal plastered on the side of Alliance recruitment stations and Terra Nova proganda. Thinking anything different would get you knifed and gutted in some back alley faster than any FTL drive.

And yet there Shepard was, alive anyway. There she was, buying food for the kid with big eyes and jutting bones with the credits she'd spent all day earning. There she was, catching the fat tourists' sweaty wrist before he turned into the alley where the muggers were waiting for him. There she was, looking at hell and seeing the best in everyone, even in him.

He shook his head again, and pushed away from the railing. It was a good thing, her leaving. People like Shepard didn't exist in places like this. Truthfully, he wasn't even sure people like Shepard existed anywhere.

She didn't try to stop him as he turned to go. Everyone left eventually, and that was one thing even she couldn't change. Goodbyes just made things awkward, and there wasn't really anything to say at this point anyway.

Still, he paused just at the balcony's door, hesitating. For a moment, he could almost see himself turn back; could see himself go with her, follow her up past the polluted sky; could see them together finding humanity's future wherever it was out there. But then the moment ended, and instead he said, so softly she couldn't possibly hear it, "You can't save us all, Shepard."

He left her staring up at the dark, smog filled sky.


End file.
